The San Pedro Sports Committee hosted a five-day technical and capacity building football workshop on Ambergris Caye. The workshop was geared to evaluate the skills of young athletes and at the same time, offer a Level 1 course to aspiring coaches. The workshop ended with an all-day football fair at the Saca Chispas Football Field on Saturday March 5th, in which footballers from all levels displayed their skills and abilities.
Facilitator of the workshop was Renan Cowo, the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) Football Developer. Cowo said that the FFB is currently conducting trainings in five different areas, with the aim of developing football in Belize.
These trainings include grassroots football for children between the ages of six and 12 years, formation of football academies, capacity building for coaches, beach and five-a-side football and capacity building for referees. “In San Pedro Town, we conducted two simultaneous workshops which included capacity building for coaches and the formation of football academies for sub-13, sub-15 and sub-17 teams… we look at the basic football philosophy and we also put what is being taught into practice. These are some of the ways that FIFA is helping Belize to develop football,” said Cowo.
The formations of football academies will allow the San Pedro athletes to participate in national competitions as well as expose the talent of footballers who may form part of the national teams. Over 100 athletes participated in the workshop and over 15 local coaches got Level 1 training. “The participation was excellent and we are hopeful that we can continue doing more work in the area of football in San Pedro Town. This is good for the island, as well as for the country,” explained Cowo.
The training was organized through the San Pedro Sports Committee with the assistance of The San Pedro Town Council.
